Door lift device



Patented Nov. 4, 1941 ADOOR, LIFT DEVICE Victor Willoughby, Ridgewood, NJ., assigner to American Car and Foundry Company, 'New York, N. Y., a.corporation of New Jersey Application June 8, 1939, Serial No. 277,976

- 6 Claims.

This invention relates to door lift devices ingeneral and in particularto such devices intended for use with sliding railway car doors.

In recent years the majority of sliding railway ,car doors have beenequipped with lift devices permitting the door to be raised duringsliding yet permitting it to rest on the supporting track when in lockedor partially open position 'to prevent sliding of the door with theresultant damage thereto during transit. The lift devices as now appliedto cars lift both edges of the door; in other words, the mechanism mustbe made suiiiciently strong to lift the entire door weight. These doorswere also permitted to rest, when in the lowered position, directly onthe smooth upper surfaceof the track and the doors could accordinglyslide when a heavy impact was received by the car. It is an object,therefore, of thepresent invention to provide a door lift device andcooperating track which will positively prevent shifting of the dooralong the track under impact.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an inexpensivesimple door lift device which need lift only half the door weight.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a door liftdevice in which the lift is accomplished by means of a verticallysliding carriage or slide block.

Theseand other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawing, in which: f

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the lower portion of the door withparts thereof being shown in section to more clearly disclose theconstruction;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially at the dooroperating handle of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the improved lift device shown in Figure 1but with the parts in door lifted position;.

Figure 4 is a partial sectional view showing a modified form of rollerhousing and door track;

. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a portion `of the door track shown in Fig. 4;V

Fig. 6 is a partial sectional view showing a still further modified doortrack and housing arrangement, and

Fig, 7 is a plan view of the modified door track shown in Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that theimproved lift device and track is used in connection with a more or lessconventional form of door having front stile 2 joined which terminatesin an inwardly directed stiftening flange I4. In the angle between theledge I0 and web I2 are secured roller housings I6 and IB locatedrespectively adjacent the front and rear edges of the door. The rollerhousing .I8 is provided with openings for reception of an axle 20, uponwhich is rotatably mounted the roller or other antifriction device 2|adapted to roll on the smooth upper surface of leg 22 of angle-shapedtrack T. The inner edge of this' upper leg of the ftrack is preferablydeformed to provide partial corrugations or projections 24 extendingupwardly above the smooth surface of the track for a purpose later to bereferred to.

The roller housing I6 is preferably formed as a one-piece member havingan outer wall 26 overlapping a portion of the track and joined to innerwall 28 by end walls 30 and top wall 32. `The lower edge of the innerWall 28` is provided with an inwardly directed .flange 34 merging into adownwardly directed reinforcing and door retaining flange 36. is formedwith projections 38 of such a width as to engage in these spaces betweenthe rpartial corrugations or projections formed in the inner edge of thetrack. In this manner it will` be seen that since the housing issecurely fastened tothe door, the door will be unable to Vshift alongthe track due -to the interlocking of the projections on the rollerhousing and track In order to separate the projections and permitmovement of the door, ado'or lift device has been provided consisting ofav box-like roller carriage or slide block formed by inner and outerside wallsvIIIJ joined together by end and top walls 42 and of such asize as to freely slide within the cavity formed by the inner and outerand end walls of the roller housing I6. The inner and outer walls of theroller carriage or slide block have holes provided therein to receiveaxle 44 upon which is rotatably-mounted a roller or other antifrictiondevice 46 adapted to roll on the upper surface of the track when theblock isforced into contact with the track.' The corners at which theend walls and top wall of the slide lblock meet are thickened as at 50in order to provide bearing padsfor theends of oppositely directedoperating arms 52 preferably formed integral with an operating handle54. The handle and operating arms are pivoted to the roller housing bymeansof pin 56 extending through the innerv and outer walls of thehousing. In the present instance 'the'operating handle extends upwardlythrough anopening 58 formed in the upper wall of the housing, but it isobvious that if'desired the operating handle may be positioned outsideof the housing and non-rotatably secured tothe operating arms in anysuitable manner. It'will be seen that by moving the operating handle inextends inwardly to merge into a web portion I2 60 either direction,namely, to either the full or line The inwardly directed flange 34',

and dash position of Fig. 3, will cause one of the operating arms to ineffect force the slide block downwardly, but since the slide block cannot move downwardly, due to the door track, then the door must moveupwardly, permitting the projections formed on the flange 34 to clearthe projections formed on the track and thereby permit free slidingmotion of the door along the track. It will be noted that the door railis parallel to the track when the door is in lowered position, but is atan angle relative thereto when the door is in a raised or slidingposition. 'I'his will, of course, cause the stile 'to be at an angle tothe sealing strips and give a powerful leverage to break the sealingcontact between the stile and seal strips which, in the presentinstance, have not been shown.

Under some conditions it may be impossible to form the projections asshown in Figs. 1, 2 and l3, in which case the inner edge of the doortrack may be notched as at 60 (Figs. 4 and 5), with the remainingmetallic tongues 62 deflected upwardly thereby providing teeth orprojections adapted to engage the projections 38 formed on the rollerhousing.

Some shops will be unable to deform or notch the track as previouslydescribed, in which case the inner edge of the track may be formed withprojections 'Ill to cooperate with the projections 38 formed on theroller housing carried by the door. These projections 10 (Figs. 6 and 7)may be cast on the track, if a cast track is used, or may be placedthereon by welding in case a rolled track is utilized.

In any event, the door will normally be er1- gaged with the trackprojections and any shifting movement of the door will be prevented, butwhen it is desired to shift the door this may be readily accomplished-by merely grasping the operating handle and moving it in the directionL which it is desired to move the door thereby causing one of theoperating arms to force the slide block and roller downwardly, therebylifting the door and disengaging the interlocked projections. the liftmechanism may be placed at the rear edge of the door instead of at theforward edge as shown, although the latter is preferable since it willbe adjacent the door locking mechanism.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it willbe obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts, otherthan those shown and described, will suggest themselves to personsskilled in the art and all such modifications and rearrangements ofparts are contemplated as will fall within the scope of the appendedclaims which define my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a door lift device the combination of a roller, a roller slideblock substantially inclosing said roller, an axle connecting saidroller and slide block, a housing secured to the door and substantiallyinclosing said slide block, and operating means carried by said housingto shift said slide block vertically in the housing to lift the door,said operating means being substantially of flat headed inverted T shapewith the stem thereof forming an operating handle and the iiat headedportion providing spaced bearings normally bearing on spaced portions ofsaid slide f,

block.

2. In a door lift device the combination of a roller, a roller slideblock substantially inclosing It will, of course, be obvious that saidroller, an axle connecting said roller and slide block, a housingsecured to the door and substantially inclosing said slide block, anopening in the upper central portion of said housing, an operatinghandle extending upwardly through said opening, a pivot connecting saidhandle and housing for relative rotation, and oppositely directed armsconnected to said handle and presenting substantially coplanar surfacesnormally bearing on said slide block to limit vertical shifting of saidslide block Within the housing, and one yof said surfaces causingvertical shifting of the slide block within the housing upon movement ofthe handle, irrespective of the direction of movement of said operatinghandle about the pivot.

3. In a door lift device the combination of a roller, a roller slideblock substantially inclosing said roller, an axle connecting saidroller and slide block, a housing secured to the door and substantiallyinclosing said slide block, an operating handle pivotally carried bysaid housing upon a pivot located above said axle, and oppositelydirected operating arms within said housing and connected to saidoperating handle, said arms normally bearing on said slide block atpoints equally spaced from said pivot to limit upward movement andcontrol tilting of the slide block in the housing, one of said armsoperating to shift the slide block vertically in the housing uponmovement of the operating handle in either direction to thereby liftsaid door. 4. A lifting mechanism for sliding doors of railway cars,supported on tracks having spaced projections extending upwardlyk abovethe track surface thereof, said mechanism including spaced housingssecured as units to the door and inclosing rollers adapted to roll onthe track surface, spaced projections formed on one of said housings andengageable between the track projections to lock the door againstsliding movement, a vertically movable slide block carried within saidone housing formed with the projections and rotatably carrying theinclosed roller, and operating means for shifting the slide block in thehousing to lift the door and disengage the said projections on the trackand door. n

5. In a door lift device the combination of an antifriction device, aslide block supported on said antifriction device, a housing securedtothe door and inclosing said slide block for relative vertical movementand an inverted T shaped operating means carried by said housing withthe arms of the T presenting substantially coplanar surfaces bearing onsaid slide block to limit upward movement and preventing tiltingthereof, said operating means forcing Said slidev block downward in thehousing during movement thereof to thereby lift said door. y

6. Lift mechanism for a car door slidably supported on tracks havingspaced projections ex,- tending.. upwardly above the trackv surface,said mechanism lcomprising spaced housings secured to the door one ofsaid housings having spaced projections engageable between the trackprojections to'lock the door against sliding movement, rollers carriedin said spaced housings and adapted to roll on the track surface, avertically movable slide blockcarried within one of said housings androtatably carrying the enclosed roller, and operating means carried bysaid one housing'for shifting the slide block and roller in the housingto lift the door and disengage said projections.

VICTOR WILLOUGHBY.

